Ireland is "Exhibit A" in a global move towards progress through mutual gain rather than competition between peoples, former US president Mr Bill Clinton said last night.
Speaking in Dublin on his first Irish visit since leaving the White House, Mr Clinton said that as societies everywhere become more complex and interdependency increases, there is an ever-greater need to move away from "zero-sum" solutions, "in which, in order for me to win, you have to lose".
The Belfast Agreement was "the embodiment of the nonzero-sum solution", he said, "in which, in order for me to win, you have to win too".
Describing the "magical" transformation here during the past decade, he said Ireland had also seen a covergence of "common sense and common decency". He added: "It is obvious to anyone who has watched from the outside that progress and prosperity have been closely intertwined."
Mr Clinton was addressing the eighth annual Independent lecture at Trinity College, hosted by Independent News Media, after a day in which he visited the President at Aras an Uachtar ain and met the Taoiseach at Government Buildings. Anti-globalisation protesters chanted slogans outside Trinity College during his speech.
Mr Clinton hailed US and European co-operation in the Balkans as an example of the growing awareness of interdependency throughout the world. His visit continues today with a gala dinner in his honour at Dublin Castle, to be chaired by Senator George Mitchell.
Tomorrow he will speak at a public reception in Derry, before travelling to Enniskillen and Belfast on Thursday.